PART 1. DEFINITIONS [297 - 297.5]

( Part 1 added by Stats. 1999, Ch. 588, Sec. 2. )

297.5.

(a) Registered domestic partners shall have the same rights, protections,
and benefits, and shall be subject to the same responsibilities, obligations,
and duties under law, whether they derive from statutes, administrative
regulations, court rules, government policies, common law, or any other
provisions or sources of law, as are granted to and imposed upon spouses.

(b) Former registered domestic partners shall have the same rights, protections,
and benefits, and shall be subject to the same responsibilities, obligations,
and duties under law, whether they derive from statutes, administrative
regulations, court rules, government policies, common law, or any other
provisions or sources of law, as are granted to and imposed upon former spouses.

(c) A surviving registered domestic partner, following the death of the
other partner, shall have the same rights, protections, and benefits,
and shall be subject to the same responsibilities, obligations, and duties
under law, whether they derive from statutes, administrative regulations,
court rules, government policies, common law, or any other provisions
or sources of law, as are granted to and imposed upon a widow or a widower.

(d) The rights and obligations of registered domestic partners with respect
to a child of either of them shall be the same as those of spouses. The
rights and obligations of former or surviving registered domestic partners
with respect to a child of either of them shall be the same as those of
former or surviving spouses.

(e) To the extent that provisions of California law adopt, refer to, or
rely upon, provisions of federal law in a way that otherwise would cause
registered domestic partners to be treated differently than spouses, registered
domestic partners shall be treated by California law as if federal law
recognized a domestic partnership in the same manner as California law.

(f) Registered domestic partners shall have the same rights regarding nondiscrimination
as those provided to spouses.

(g) No public agency in this state may discriminate against any person
or couple on the ground that the person is a registered domestic partner
rather than a spouse or that the couple are registered domestic partners
rather than spouses, except that nothing in this section applies to modify
eligibility for long-term care plans pursuant to Chapter 15 (commencing
with Section 21660) of Part 3 of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

(h) This act does not preclude any state or local agency from exercising
its regulatory authority to implement statutes providing rights to, or
imposing responsibilities upon, domestic partners.

(i) This section does not amend or modify any provision of the California
Constitution or any provision of any statute that was adopted by initiative.

(j) Where necessary to implement the rights of registered domestic partners
under this act, gender-specific terms referring to spouses shall be construed
to include domestic partners.

(k) (1) For purposes of the statutes, administrative regulations, court
rules, government policies, common law, and any other provision or source
of law governing the rights, protections, and benefits, and the responsibilities,
obligations, and duties of registered domestic partners in this state,
as effectuated by this section, with respect to community property, mutual
responsibility for debts to third parties, the right in particular circumstances
of either partner to seek financial support from the other following the
dissolution of the partnership, and other rights and duties as between
the partners concerning ownership of property, any reference to the date
of a marriage shall be deemed to refer to the date of registration of
a domestic partnership with the state.

(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), for domestic partnerships registered
with the state before January 1, 2005, an agreement between the domestic
partners that the partners intend to be governed by the requirements set
forth in Sections 1600 to 1620, inclusive, and which complies with those
sections, except for the agreement’s effective date, shall be enforceable
as provided by Sections 1600 to 1620, inclusive, if that agreement was
fully executed and in force as of June 30, 2005.

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